Improvement in metallic cartridges



1. v. MEIGS,

' Metallic Cartridge.

o. 90,951. Patented June 8, 1869.

UNITED STATES J. V. MEIGS, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

IMPROVEMENT .IN METALLIC CARTRIDGES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 90,951, dhted June'8,1869.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, J. V. MEIGS, of the cityand county of Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Metallic Cartridges, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being hadto the annexed drawings, which make part of this specification, in whichFigure 1 represents a view of the interior of the cartridge-case, a partbeing broken away; Fig. 2, a vertical central section through a filledcartridge without a flange; Fig. 3, a view of the outside of severalcases, showing the depressions in the base; Fig. 4, a vertical centralsection through a flanged filled cartridge; and Fig. 5, a brokencartridge-case, seen from the outside, showing the anvil in part.

It is the object of my invention to render metal cartridges secureagainst explosion in transportation, or accidental discharge inmagazine-guns; and to this end my invention consists in a novel method,hereinafter described, of constructing a metallic cartridge by placingthe fulminate cent-rally in a baranvil, securing the anvil in the baseof the cartridge-case, and grooving the base from edge to edge, ornearly so.

To carry out the object of my invention, I form the cup A of soft metal,with a flange at the base, as shown in Fig. 4, or without a flange, butwith an annular groove, as in Figs. 2 and 3, in any of the most approvedmodes of spinning or striking up from a disk. The bar-anvil K, of hardmetal, is curved so that its ends, which are thinner than it is in themiddle, will rest in the flange, as in Fig. 4, or beneath the annulargroove, as in Fig. 3, and be held securely. The anvil is punched on itsunder side to form a cup, 1', in which the fulminate s is deposited. Thebottom of the cartridge-case A is a plane surface, and on the outside ofthis bottom I sink a depression q, or two depressions, q and t, the onebeing at a right angle to the other, as shown in Fig. 2 at C and A, andreversed or seen from the inside, as at q and tin Fig. 1. Thesedepressions are made so as to be left square at their edges, and mayextend from one side of the cup to the other, or they may be made so asnot to extend entirely across the bottom. In either case, however, theyare to be made deeper at the center than at the extremities of thedepressions.

TVhen the cartridge is to be fired, a rod to be struck by the hammerenters the point at m which the depressions cross, or the center of thesingle depression, and, by its percussion on the fulminate in the centerof the anvil, produces the desired explosion of the cartridge.

Now, when the anvil containing its fulminate is placed within theflange, it is manifest that the case or cup may be charged withemmunition, and that a considerable'lateral ppessure may be applied toclose the upper edge of the cup aroundthe ball without any danger ofexploding the fulminate; and it is further obvious that, as the groovesin the bottom of the cup will present a rigid resistance to any body thecartridge may encounter, Without striking the fulminate, the danger ofexplosion in the cartridge from transportation in boxes or otherwisewill be almost entirely removed. It is further obvious that when thecartridge so constructed shall be used in magazine-guns,

even such as carry one cartridge above another in a tube, the rigidcorners of the depressions will prevent the contact of the point of aball from pressing against the fulminate of the cartridge next it, andthus render this cartridge peculiarly safe for such guns.

I do not, under this application, claim the bar-anvil per se.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

The combination, as set forth, of the baranvil with the squareedgeddepression in the bottom of the cartridge case, constructed, arranged,and operating as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

JOSIAH V. MEIGS.

WVitnesses WM. D. BALDWIN, Jos. I. PEYTON.

ATEN'I OFFICE.

